Jazz & Sonic Arts 2026 Faculty & Participant Concert 3

Miranda Agnew was generously supported by the Barbara and John Poole Memorial Endowment.

Miranda Ingram Agnew is a trumpet player, composer, improviser, and educator originally from Tucson, AZ.  She is deeply invested in building supportive and bold spaces for music-making and lasting connections to others through creative practice.  Based in Brooklyn, NY,  she recently performed at the Jazz Gallery with Loomtone, a sextet she collaboratively composes for and leads with saxophonist Katie Webster. She received ASCAP’s Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer’s Award in 2026, is a member of Mutual Mentorship for Musicians (M3) Cohort 8, and a 2025 MacDowell Fellow in Composition.  Miranda performs regularly with Selendis Sebastian Alexander Johnson’s Big Band, has performed at Close Up with a band led by Devon Gates, and at Roulette with Naomi Nakanishi’s band as part of M3’s 2024 Festival. A dedicated educator, she curated two workshop series for highschoolers and received funding to design a guide for educators centering Women in the story of Jazz + Creative Music.

Igor Ambrosin was generously supported by the Helen Graham Artist Award.

Igor Ambrosin (2000) is an Italian pianist, improviser, and composer who is emerging on the new European scene of contemporary jazz. His music combines the love for improvisation with a deep exploration of rhythmic complexity, bringing an original and genre-fluid approach to composition and interplay.  

His main current project is the Igor Ambrosin Trio, an international band featuring him on piano alongside Jonathan Ho on double bass and live electronics and Pierre Hurty on drums. The group is currently working on the recording and release of the debut album, scheduled for 2026. At the same time, he is developing Second Life, a multidisciplinary performance in collaboration with illustrator and graphic designer Anna Bonomi, which will be premiered in Rotterdam in fall 2026.  

After studying at Siena Jazz University (Bachelor’s degree) and the Rotterdam Conservatory (Master’s degree), Igor now lives in Amsterdam, where he works and spends his free time clumsily solving sudoku.

Joel Bracken was generously supported by the Ontario Artists Fund.

Joel Bracken is a saxophonist, composer, and arranger based in Toronto. Born and raised in Toronto, Joel began exploring the music scene as a teenager, attending concerts at jazz venues across the city and hearing outstanding local musicians and players from around the world. Joel studied at Humber College, where he had the opportunity to perform with the artists-in-residence in 2023 and 2024: Davide Virelles and Ingrid Jensen. Since graduating from Humber College, Joel has become an active member of the Toronto music community, performing regularly at venues across the Greater Toronto Area with musicians such as Dave Young, Lorne Lofsky, and the Carn Davidson 9. Joel also composes music for various configurations of jazz ensembles. In 2024, he released a short EP of original compositions on all streaming platforms and is releasing an album of original music and standards in the fall of 2026. Joel is also an active educator, teaching woodwinds privately and at Long and McQuade.

Arthur Clees was generously supported by the Barbara and John Poole Memorial Endowment.

Arthur Clees is a Luxembourg-born electronic music artist, producer, composer, and improviser whose work bridges minimal techno, ambient electronica, jazz-rooted improvisation, and contemporary compositional forms.

Growing up in Esch-sur-Alzette, Arthur began his musical journey studying cello and classical percussion before immersing himself in jazz, vibraphone, and contemporary improvised music.

He went on to study at the jazz departments at the music academy in Dresden and Oslo and formed several bands throughout his early musical career. Including the award-winning duo Kravchenko Clees and the jazz new wave quartet Jambal with whom he still plays and tours today.

Arthur’s debut solo album as a producer and songwriter, Stay, Temporary Home, was released on Macro Recordings in 2023 and earned critical recognition for its hypnotic blend of techno, ambient, and avant-garde influences. The record was nominated for the prestigious Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik in the Electronic & Experimental category.

He has also collaborated with iconic figures in the electronic music world. A notable release is Jan Jelinek & Arthur Clees: Live in Luxembourg, December 3rd 2021, a vinyl and digital recording of an improvised performance with Berlin electronic pioneer Jan Jelinek.

Beyond his solo work, Arthur produces for other artists, contributing beats, mixes, and creative sonic production for emerging voices in the European scene. He is currently active as a performer, composer, arranger and producer in modern improvised music rooted in Jazz, Hip Hop and experimental music as well as contemporary classical music.

Jeremiah Cossa was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artist Award.

Jeremiah Cossa is the embodiment of a modern musician: a boundary-crossing pianist proficient in a vast array of musical languages. He leads an exciting and unorthodox career that nimbly traverses Classical and Contemporary chamber repertoire, Jazz-rooted and free improvisation, and several Rock projects.
Cossa is a core member of Chamber Rock ensemble Cordis, praised by Billboard for creating “sparkling moments that defy classification.” He has performed with Parlando, the NYC orchestra called “off the scale for its integrity and emotional impact” by the NY Classical Review. His punk band nurse joy was a fixture of the Boston DIY scene while active.

Classically trained, Cossa has appeared as soloist with multiple orchestras and received a share of local and international competition awards before shifting his focus to Contemporary repertoire.
Jeremiah grew up in eSwatini (formerly Swaziland), where he began piano at age 5 and continued after moving back to the US at age 11. He holds a B.M. from Azusa Pacific University and an M.M. from The Boston Conservatory. He resides in Brooklyn.

His music - including a recent trio EP with Boston friends Matt Ares on bass and Henry Godfrey on drums, featuring original compositions and arrangements ranging from John Coltrane to Coldplay - can be heard on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms.

Oliver Cox was generously supported by the Helen Graham Artist Award.

Ollie Cox is a Narrm/Melbourne-based composer, drummer and improvisor, who works in the spaces between sound and music. Drawing in equal measure from his background in jazz and love of experimentalism, Ollie seeks to craft emotive compositions that flicker between spans of contemplative ambience to moments of frenetic sonic chaos.

Ollie’s rich textural palette and sensitive, considered and creative playing style at the kit have paved the way for a diverse range of collaborative projects, across a broad scope of genres. Cox performs frequently with some of Australia’s most exciting songwriters including Juice Webster, Hannah McKittrick, Phoebe Go, Maple Glider and Armlock - leading him to tour both domestically and internationally (EU, UK, USA).

Away from the drum kit, Ollie is well-known for his avant garde percussion stylings and techniques, which can be heard in solo contexts (Speak Percussion’s Bespoke Artists Program 2023-24), duos with musicians including Zela Papageorgiou and Helen Svoboda, and with local cult-favourite “post-stadium rock band”,  Dragonfru?t  (led by Theo Carbo and Robert Downie).

Ollie holds a Bachelor of Music (Hons) in Contemporary Music from the Victorian College of the Arts (University of Melbourne). It was during his studies that Ollie developed a penchant for experimentalism, drawing inspiration from the compositional stylings of ambient music, musique concréte and surrealist cinema movements. Under the tutelage of renowned composer Kate Neal, Ollie began investigating the hidden musical capacities of everyday objects and sounds as his honours project in 2020. This work culminated in his debut album, Objects In Mirror, an exploration of electroacoustic composition using found objects, which was released via experimental label Curveball in 2023.

Eli Davidovici was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artist Award.

Eli Davidovici is a bassist and composer who is currently in Tio'tia:ke/Montreal, Quebec. Originally hailing from Vancouver, BC, he has been a long-standing collaborator in the jazz, rock, and experimental Canadian music scenes. While performing in various projects and musical styles over the years, the music he gravitates towards is strongly improvisatory, with an emphasis on group connection and collaboration. In 2023, Eli released his first album as a leader, Shapes, and has been writing and arranging music for his band as well as other local artists. He has performed and recorded with Canadian artists in Montreal, Vancouver, and Toronto, including Bellbird, Chris McCann, Jean-Michel LeBlanc, Mili Hong, Roman Munoz, Thad-Bailey Mai, Kim Albert, and Erika Angell. His newest record, Bellbird’s The Call, was released on Constellation Records in early 2026, and features him as a composer and bass player.

Kali Gillen was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artist Award.

“Creatively Sophisticated” - (John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald) Kali Gillen is an active multi-instrumentalist in the music scene in Sydney and beyond. After graduating from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with a Bachelor in Music (Jazz Performance), Kali has been regularly performing with local bands Hot Potato Band, 343 Brass Band and Lyre Byrdland. She also has toured and recorded with Lime Cordiale for the 14 steps to a Better You album, and more recently played with iconic Australian band the Hilltop Hoods for their ‘Never Coming Home’ Australian Tour. With a proclivity to explore new genres and styles, Kali has played with Sydney Theatre Company for Bloom on reeds, Irish Whistle/Flute for Come From Away with Blue Mountains Theatre Co and toured with US Broadway and Tour singers Diana Huey (The Little Mermaid - US Tour), Christine Dwyer (Wicked - Broadway) and Nic Coleman (Book of Mormon - Broadway) as part of a production in China (2024). Within the jazz scene, Kali has played with Pharos for the Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival alongside featured artists Silke Eberhardt, Helen Sung and Lekecia Benjamin. 2026 will see the release of Armour, Kali’s debut EP featuring original works alongside Harry Birch (Double Bass) and Ryu Kodama (Drums).

Jasper Hood Bruten was generously supported by the Helen Graham Artist Award.

Jasper Hood Bruten is an acclaimed and award winning drummer, composer and educator, based in Melbourne, Australia. Guided and mentored by some of Melbourne's best drummers, Bruten's genre defying approach to playing embraces improvisation, deep groove and ensemble interaction, creating a unique style that he brings to every ensemble he works with. 
Over the course of his career, he has had the privilege to perform and record with many significant Australian musicians including Andrea Keller, Paul Williamson, Paul Grabowsky, Sam Anning and Julien Wilson. In addition to supporting local musicians, Jasper is regularly called to perform with international artists such as Linda May Han Oh, John Hollenbeck and Ambrose Akinmusire. After nearly a decade of working as a sideman, Jasper is now turning his attention towards crafting original projects. These include the writing of an entirely original suite of music for a jazz quartet and strings, as well as works for solo drumset with improvised, emergent electronics.

Mason Jeffery-Off was generously supported by the Lewitt Family Foundation Artist Award.

Mason Jeffery-Off is a Canadian bassist, composer and bandleader based in Montréal. Originally from Ottawa, Ontario, Jeffery-Off is a graduate of McGill's Jazz Performance program. There, he studied with Ira Coleman and Rémi-Jean LeBlanc. An on-call Montréal bassist, he performs frequently with the likes of Jean-Michel Pilc, Darrell Green, and Kevin Dean. At age 18, Jeffery-Off was one of 16 international jazz musicians under the age of 25 to be selected for Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead, a performer-composer residency located at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. In 2024, he received the Hnatyshyn Developing Artist Grant (Oscar Peterson Grant for Jazz Performance).  Jeffery-Off leads a seven-piece ensemble called Marvelous Creatures, which features compositions of his that are derived from written and spoken language, such as poetry, speeches and interviews. A full-length album is currently in the works with this ensemble. To Jeffery-Off, “Musicians share a special bond and to nurture it we must be open to each other's ideas, making them work in tandem. My goal is to abandon my preconceptions and serve the spirit of the moment. It is this humanity and spontaneity that bridge the gap between music and listener and, in turn, connects us all.”

Solomon Kim was generously supported by the Marshall M. Williams Endowment.

Solomon Kim is an improviser, composer, and cellist whose work is grounded in the traditions of creative music and new music. Solomon’s approach to composition is one which creates a system or world to be explored, harnessing the social, energetic, and otherwise intangible and emergent qualities of these complex systems to navigate the porosity found within practices of composition and improvisation. Recent and upcoming works include Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth for chorus and creative ensemble (commissioned by the Atlanta Improvisers Orchestra) explore social relations within improvisation as a route to creating emergent, dynamic performances. Solomon has worked with ensembles and artists such as Aleksander Gabrys, Marie Carroll, Kevin Ramsay, Carl Testa, Timuçin Sahin’s Recalibrators, Hypercube, Atlanta Improvisers Orchestra, Tacet(i) Ensemble, Atlanta Contemporary Music Collective, etc. and has received residencies and other honors from the K2 Contemporary Art Center (Türkiye), GITLER&___ (USA), College Music Society (USA), and the Association for the Promotion of New Music (USA) among others. Solomon is a recipient of the 2024-2025 Fulbright Creative Arts grant in the Republic of Türkiye and a current graduate student at Wesleyan University, studying towards a MA in Experimental Music with Darius Jones.

Kateryna Kravchenko was generously supported by the Barbara and John Poole Memorial Endowment.

Kateryna Kravchenko is an award-winning Ukrainian vocalist and composer. Following her dream of becoming a jazz musician, she moved to Germany in 2018 to study in Dresden. Since then, she has participated in various prestigious programs and residencies, including Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., the Elbphilharmonie Jazz Academy in Hamburg, and the Gutenberg Jazz Collective in Mainz, and has toured with her music across Europe.

She has performed with internationally renowned musicians such as Melissa Aldana, Lars Danielsson, Lage Lund, Joey Baron, Ben van Gelder, and Linda May Han Oh.

During her exchange year at the Royal College of Music Stockholm, she focused on composition for large ensemble and created a genre-bending suite inspired by paintings by Ukrainian artist Maria Prymachenko.

Together with Luxembourgish vibraphonist Arthur Clees, she recently released the album Faces, produced by Wanja Slavin, which focuses on poetry about the search for identity and explores not only the unusual combination of vibraphone and voice but also features church organ, percussion and electronics.  

Currently, Kateryna is pursuing a dual master’s degree in Jazz Composition and Vocals at the Cologne University of Music and Dance.
 

Abi Lee was generously supported by the Marshall M. Williams Endowment.

Abi Lee (she/her) is a pianist, composer, and improviser with Korean heritage based in Melbourne/Naarm, Australia. She relocated from New Zealand to live and study jazz and contemporary improvised music. Driven by her “deep commitment to improvisation” (Andrea Keller, 2024), Lee continues to explore the possibilities and impossibilities of piano and improvisation. Lee’s work blurs the lines between percussive and harmonic aspects of the piano across genres (such as contemporary classical and free jazz). As a recipient of several prizes and awards, Lee presents her works across Australia, taking part in major jazz festivals and sharing the stage with various Australia’s best improvisers. Taking inspirations from improvisers such as Kris Davis, Ornette Coleman, and Tim Berne, Lee’s compositions bring out her unique view of the world with “musical depth and vulnerability necessary to be engaged in high level real time improvisation” (Stephen Magnusson, 2024). Lee’s works has been described: “there is a measured calm to this music, full of minimalist and restive beauty forged from conversational exchange.” (Cowley - Rhythms Magazine, 2024).

Emil Miszk was generously supported by the Denis Jackson Memorial Scholarship Endowment.

Trumpeter, composer and improviser working at the intersection of jazz, contemporary and improvised music.

His work is shaped by a constant tension between structure and freedom. Rather than developing f ixed bands, he focuses on designing frameworks in which music can unfold in real time — where composition becomes a space for interaction, not a closed form. His projects move across large ensembles, electro-acoustic formats and interdisciplinary contexts, but remain rooted in one core idea: music as a system of relationships between people, sound and place.

As a performer and artistic director, he works with modular formats that adapt to different environments, scales and constellations of musicians, allowing each project to evolve beyond a single version or setting.

FRYDERYK Award winner and board member of the Alpaka Records Label & Foundation. Alongside his artistic work, he is active as an educator, combining artistic research, performance and community-oriented projects. He has extensive experience in international touring, recording and teaching across Europe and Asia.

emilmiszk.com

Benjamin Mizrach was generously supported by the Helen Graham Artist Award.

Ben Mizrach is a saxophonist, composer, band leader and educator based in Brooklyn. Ben began playing piano at age 5 and saxophone at
age 9. In high school he attended the Jazz House Kids summer workshop, where the inspiration of mentors Bruce Williams and Christian McBride would encourage him to study jazz saxophone at New England Conservatory, and physics at Tufts University. Ben draws from a sprawling palette of influences, from Stephen Sondheim to Anthony Braxton. Alongside creative partner Harrison Clark, Ben wrote the book, music, and lyrics for Almanac – a stage musical exploring the artistic struggles of three black musicians studying at a predominantly white college. The musical, inspired by the work of composer T.J Anderson and American minstrel shows, premiered in Somerville, MA to a sold-out crowd in November of 2021.
In December 2023, Harrison and Ben reunited to develop and produce Orbiting Lovers & Contraband as part of the Office Hours Residency Program at the Kennedy Center. The project explores connections and disconnections - with each other, our environments, our ancestors, and ourselves. Ben regularly performs in New York with his quartet, Zohar & Adam, and other projects. He works as an educator at Jazz House Kids NYC, Brooklyn Friends School , and as a private lesson instructor.

Kyle Muir was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artist Award.

Kyle Muir (he/they) is a guitarist, producer and audio engineer working on Wurundjeri land in Victoria, Australia. Muir works in a range of different roles (recording, mixing, mastering, guitarist, singer) across many different styles (jazz, West-African music, singer-songwriter, electronic, sound art).

In 2020, Kyle completed their Honours year with a research focus on West-African Manding music under the tutelage of Guinean-Australian griot musician Amadou Kalissa. Through this project Amadou and Kyle formed the ensemble Mandeng Groove.

Mandeng Groove have since toured Australia and undergone two study trips to West Africa. Notably in 2024, Kyle recorded, mixed and played guitar on the LP Conakry, a collaboration between the Melbourne ensemble and local musicians from Guinea.  

In 2021, Kyle took part in the Australian Art Orchestra’s Creative Music Intensive, a 10-day practise-based music residency at Mt Hotham in Victoria. Undertaking the Creative Music Intensive was formative and Kyle met musicians from across the country, forming new creative connections.

Kyle is currently working on an array of different projects including their 2nd LP for Wybie and producing Flora Carbo’s upcoming LP The Cyclist.

Tess Overmyer was generously supported by the Helen Graham Artist Award.

Tessie Overmyer has established herself as one of the most exciting saxophone players in the Australian jazz scene. Originally from Newcastle, Australia, she is currently based in New York City.

Tessie has performed extensively throughout Australia as both a bandleader and sideperson, appearing at major festivals including the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, the Sydney Women’s Jazz Festival, and the Perth International Jazz Festival. She has played alongside Australian jazz legends like Barney Mcall, Mike Nock, Sandy Evans, Vanessa Perica, and Sam Anning. In 2025 Tessie released her debut album, Tidelines with Earshift Music.

In 2026 she released a second album, Quartet with ABC Jazz, which was the result of a composition commission from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Tessie is currently studying a Master of Music at the Manhattan School of Music, where she has had the opportunity to study with Donny McCaslin, Caroline Davis, Jaleel Shaw, Nicole Glover, and Ingrid Jensen.

Salomé Perli was generously supported by the N. Murray Edwards Family Fund.

An elusive sonic creature, Salomé Perli stands out through her remarkable versatility as a violinist, pianist, vocalist, author, arranger, producer, composer, and improviser. Her singular artistic universe moves fluidly between songwritting, contemporary jazz, electronic and experimental music, driven by bold writing and boundless expressiveness. Fueled by an insatiable artistic curiosity, she continuously expands her practice through interdisciplinary collaborations with choreographers, visual artists, filmmakers, circus performers, and dancers, while engaging with musicians from a wide range of backgrounds. Rejecting labels and conventions, she has developed a deeply personal and immersive artistic approach that has led her to perform internationally across Europe, Japan, Canada, and the United States, as well as to take part in numerous creative residencies (CEM, Codes d’Accès, Le Vivier) and festivals, including MUTEK and OFF JAZZ. Alongside her performance and creative work, she is also active as an educator through free improvisation workshops. With two experimental songwritting albums to her name, Salomé Perli follows in the footsteps of artists such as Björk, Thom Yorke, and Esperanza Spalding, asserting a musical identity that is powerful, sensitive, and resolutely unclassifiable.

Ketija Ringa-Karahona was generously supported by the Denis Jackson Memorial Scholarship Endowment.

Ketija Ringa-Karahona is a Latvian flutist based in the Netherlands since 2019. In 2025 she acquired a Master’s degree at the Jazz Department of Conservatorium van Amsterdam. With a foundation in classical music and a love for improvisation, her musical voice bridges genres and explores various sonic territories. She has collaborated with leading jazz/improvising artists including Petter Eldh, Kit Downes, Mary Halvorson, Reinier Baas, Ernst Reijseger, and Pablo Held, among others.

In 2022 she received the Keep An Eye Outstanding Talent Award. In 2023 she was chosen as the Jonge Makers of Amsterdam Jazzfest. Featured in NRC as one of twelve art school graduates in Netherlands in the year of 2023, as well as winner of the Laren Jazz Award 2023. In 2025 she won the Mingus Prize making her the composer of residence for Paradox Jazz Orchestra.

Conner Satyro was generously supported by the Denis Jackson Memorial Scholarship Endowment.

Conner Satyro is an eclectic musician currently based out of Calgary, Alberta.  His artistic works paired with his educational background & experience as a bandleader, solo performer, accompanist and involvement in DIY independent music communities, have culminated into an extensive resume spanning the North American underground. A reputation garnered through precise execution and an undeniable artistic voice across original, collaborative and supportive roles.  

As a drummer he has toured coast to coast nationally with Seth Anderson’s band, sessioned for gunk-pop pioneers Black Ends, performed at the 2023 Canmore Folk Fest and during his first international tour, gigged on a boat underneath the Golden Gate Bridge with Fever Feel.  He has played on recordings for Singaporean musician Gazelle, LA guitarist Benjamin Fortin, Seattle indie rock band Dusty, Oakland based songwriter Mitchell Manburg and Subway. In 2025 his former band YOY with critically acclaimed musicians Daniel Seah (Singapore) & Kogano Moe (Japan) released Three Pals from Not America marking 9 years of international collaboration.  

In 2026 Conner released 4 records, toured & played live on 90.9 CJSW with his free jazz duo Fact, performed for the provincial government at The National Music Centre and is gearing up for a three week solo US tour.

Natalie Song was generously supported by the Helen Graham Artist Award.

Natalie Song is a pianist, improviser, and composer based in the Seattle area. She earned her Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from the University of Washington, studying with Marc Seales, Ted Poor, Steph Richards, Steve Rodby, and Cuong Vu. She developed her voice performing in a variety of ensembles, both at and outside the school. Under the mentorship of Poor and Vu, Song strengthened her skills as a free improviser and composer. Her current work synthesizes jazz styles with more textural and collective approaches, with an emphasis on open improvisation.

Song performs as the keyboardist for Seattle rock artist Lucia Flores-Wiseman and is an active sideman in various other projects in the local jazz scene. Past collaborations include accompanying Bill Frisell, Luke Bergman, Todd Sickafoose, and Kelsey Mines. In addition to performing, Song works as an educator and recording engineer, capturing both live performances and studio sessions for ensembles ranging from orchestras to jazz quartets.

Julia Stein was generously supported by the Helen Graham Artist Award.

She is a violinist and improviser focused on developing a personal musical language through experimentation and collaboration. She holds Master’s degrees from AMUZ in Poznan and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where she further developed her violin practice. It was during her studies in London that she discovered improvisation, which became central to her artistic work.

She is an active member of the European improvised music scene, including the Wroclaw Improvised Orchestra, where she explores real-time composition and collective creation. She has performed at international festivals such as JazzFest Berlin and the Jazz Festival in Saalfelden, and regularly collaborates with artists at the Jazztopad Festival, performing in the House Concerts series.

She co-creates improvised projects including the ambient duo Miki i Julka and the ensemble Kołysanki. She also developed the project Przeczucia, inspired by Jack Wright’s The Free Musics. Her work is rooted in attentive listening, openness, and collaboration.

Mindaugas Stumbras was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artist Award.

Mindaugas Stumbras (b. 1996, Vilnius, Lithuania) is an internationally active guitarist, composer, and bandleader celebrated for his expressive musical voice that blends contemporary jazz with world‑music influences and narrative storytelling. Based in Vilnius, he is recognized for his rich improvisation, lyrical depth, and harmonic imagination.

Stumbras completed advanced studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, earning a bachelor’s degree in jazz guitar in 2019. Since then, he has performed extensively across Europe at prestigious jazz clubs and festivals, collaborating with a wide range of international musicians.

As a recording artist and bandleader, Stumbras has released several acclaimed albums, including Inspirations (2021), Among the Pines (2023), and the guitar duo project Strung Out (2025). His latest album, The Spinner of Yarns (2025), presents a sonic tapestry where each composition unfolds like a story, intertwining improvisation with delicate melodies, contemporary harmonies, and world‑music textures.

Through his performances, Stumbras explores both intimate acoustic settings and dynamic collective improvisation, continually expanding the expressive possibilities of the modern jazz guitar

Jonathon Wilcke was generously supported by the Judith Anne LaRoque Scholarship Endowment.

Jonathon Wilcke is a saxophonist, composer, and community organizer whose music ranges through strict forms, jazz, free and structured improvisation, text-sound, and vocal accompaniment, in both solo and group situations. Wilcke combines a well-rounded musical vocabulary drawing from jazz, contemporary composition, and various lineages of free improvisation with a high level of proficiency in the outer ranges of their instrument’s possibilities. Based in Calgary/Mohkintsis, Wilcke has collaborated on many musical projects, including Eating Speed with Rob Oxoby (bass) and Eric Hamelin (drums), the Chris Dadge (drums) and Jonathon Wilcke duo, Circular Sparrow, Robots on Fire, ffffffft!, The Real Featuring the UnReal, Midnighties, and Mechanics Who Can Drive. He has shared the stage with players such as Joe Morris, Peggy Lee, Mats Gustafsson, Eugene Chadbourne, Jens Lindeman, John Butcher, Han Bennink, and Jack Wright, and is the co-producer of the long-running Bug Incision Presents series.

GRAMMY-nominated saxophonist and composer Melissa Aldana has garnered international recognition for her visionary work as a band leader, as well as her deeply meditative interpretation of language and vocabulary. She was recently signed with Blue Note Records and releases her debut album with the historic label titled 12 Stars in March 2022. “Melissa Aldana is one of the foremost musician/composers of her generation,” says Blue Note President Don Was.

Aldana was one of the founding members of ARTEMIS, the all-star collective that released their debut album ARTEMIS on Blue Note this past Fall. The album featured Aldana’s simmering composition “Frida,” which was dedicated to Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, who inspired the musician through “her own process of finding self-identity through art.” 

Kahlo was also the subject of Aldana’s celebrated 2019 album Visions (Motéma), whichearned the saxophonist her first-ever GRAMMY nomination for Best Improvised Jazz Solo, an acknowledgement of her impressive tenor solo on her composition “Elsewhere.” In naming Visions among the best albums of 2019 for NPR Music, critic Nate Chinen wrote that Aldana “has the elusive ability to balance technical achievement against a rich emotional palette.”
 

Aldana was born in Santiago, Chile and grew up in a musical family. Both her father and grandfather were saxophonists and she took up the instrument at age six under her father Marcos’ tutelage. Aldana began on alto, influenced by artists such as Charlie Parker and Cannonball Adderley, but switched to tenor upon first hearing the music of Sonny Rollins. She performed in Santiago jazz clubs in her early teens and was invited by pianist Danilo Pérez to play at the Panama Jazz Festival in 2005.

Aldana moved to the U.S. to attend the Berklee College of Music, and the year after graduating she released her first album Free Fall on Greg Osby’s Inner Circle label in 2010, followed by Second Cycle in 2012. In 2013, at 24, she became the first female instrumentalist and the first South American musician to win the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition, in which her father had been a semi-finalist in 1991. After her win, she released her third album Melissa Aldana & Crash Trio (Concord). Aldana is also an in-demand clinician and educator, and the New England Conservatory’sJazz Studies Department recently appointed her to their jazz faculty beginning in the Fall of 2021.

Lorenzo Bianchi Hoesch is a composer and sound artist. His interests goes from pure electronics to compositions for theater and dance, from soundtracks for images to interactive installations. In his compositions his interest is always focused on the idea of establishing new connections between elements that are otherwise distant : with projects outside Western aesthetics, such as those with Ballaké Sissoko or Amir Elsaffar, or with sound installations based on the inherent exoticism of environmental recordings, such as those for the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, or with compositions for contemporary dance for choreographers such as Michele di Stefano, Richard Siegal, Stijn Celis, or directors such as Adolphe Binder, which immerse the audience in a new soundscape through sound, but also through movement and, above all, space. In this sense, a large part of his work is devoted to 3D sound, multichannel and holophonic composition. He has received commissions from various institutions: Ircam-Center Pompidou, Musical Research Group (GRM), Venice Biennale, Gothenburg Opera, Musée du Quai Branly, Saarbrucken Opera, Ballet National de Marseille, RhurTriennale, Royaumont Foundation, Face Foundation, and many others … and has performed all over the world. 

He graduated in architecture (Italy) and composition (France) he moved to Paris. He founded the Label Ornithology Productions in 2022. He’s associated artist at Ircam – Centre Pompidou from 2019 – 2023. He is professor of Electroacoustic Composition at the Conservatory of Montbeliard, France. 

Kris Davis is a Grammy award-winning pianist and composer described by The New York Times as “a beacon for deciding where to hear jazz on a given night.” Her genre-blending approach is deeply rooted in collaboration and draws from jazz, contemporary classical, and experimental music to explore the intersections of composition and improvisation. Davis has released 25 recordings as a leader or co-leader and collaborated with artists such as Terri Lyne Carrington, Dave Holland, John Zorn, Craig Taborn, Ingrid Laubrock, Tyshawn Sorey, Johnathan Blake, Robert Hurst, Julian Lage, and esperanza spalding. She was named a 2021 Doris Duke Artist alongside Wayne Shorter and Danilo Perez, Pianist of the Year by DownBeat magazine in 2025, 2022, and 2020, and Pianist and Composer of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2021. Davis is the Associate Program Director of Creative Development at the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, the founder of Pyroclastic Records, and the co-founder of the International Creators and Collaborators Workshop. Davis is a Steinway Artist.

Cellist and composer Tomeka Reid has emerged as one of the most original, versatile, and curious musicians in Chicago’s bustling jazz and improvised music community. A 2022 Herb Alpert awardee and MacArthur Fellow, 2021 USA Fellow, 2019 Foundation of the Arts and a 2016 3Arts recipient, Reid received her doctorate in music from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2017. From 2019-2021 Tomeka Reid held an appointment at Mills College as the Darius Milhaud chair in composition. Most recently, she was the artist in residence with the Moers Jazz Festival 2022. 

Image by Michael Jackson

Based in Oslo, Norwegian bass player Ole Morten Vågan has been a central part of the scandinavian jazz and impro community for the last decade, performing with among others Motif, The Deciders, Håvard Wiik Trio, The Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, Maria Kannegaard Trio, Andratx, Bugge Wesseltofts NCOJ, Maciej Obara Int. Quartet, Audun Kleive´s Generator X and more recently also Joshua Redman Trio with Jorge Rossy and Ole Morten Vagan . After discovering jazz as a youngster in the Northern town of Brønnøysund (just below the polar circle), he went on to study with amongst others the fantastic bassist Mats Eilertsen, and attending the very influential Jazz Conservatory in Trondheim, Norway.

Also active as a composer, he has written commissions for a.o. the Grammy Nominated Norwegian string orchestra The Trondheim Soloists, and more recently for the well renowned Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, of which he is now Artistic Director for 2017-2019 - In addition to steadily writing for bands like Motif and The Deciders for the last ten years.

Folk music of different kinds has also been at the core of Vågans interests, and through collaborations with a.o. Jovan Pavlovic, Ola Kvernberg and Stian Carstensen, he has immersed himself in the gipsy music of eastern Europe, Indian Classical Music and also norwegian folk music. He has also had the pleasure of performing with artists from an array of different countries and cultures, including some of the premier Eastern European folk musicians, among them Giani Linca, Filip Simoneov, Ivo Papasov and Petar Ralchev (after a rehearsal with the latter two, Ole Morten experienced his first and probably also last odd meter-induced fever.)

A curious interest in folk music and also classical music is the main focus in the group Gammalgrass, where he plays alongside Carstensen and Kvernberg, two of the most talented musicians coming out of Norway in recent years.

Vågan was also the recipient of the Dnb Nor/Kongsberg Jazz Festival Award in 2009, following in the footsteps of people like Sidsel Endresen, Bugge Wesseltoft, Christian Wallumrød, Audun Kleive, Nils Petter Molvaer and many more.

"Her voice a transparent gossamer of silk." Hers is an instrument that can shape sound and syllable, making it the messenger of every articulation whether it is a whisper, an ululation or a prance on the edge of a scream." -All about Jazz (USA)

Sissel Vera Pettersen is a multifaceted artist. She is a sound improvisor and composer who fuses highly creative vocal techniques with live electronic processing, and is also a brilliant sax player. Her diverse recorded work can be heard in over 50 international CD releases and she has toured all over Europe, in the USA, Canada, the Middle East and Africa. She was the artistic director of acclaimed Norwegian vocal ensemble Trondheim Voices from 2016-2025, and also works regularly with Trondheim Jazz Orchestra both as a singer and sax player. She has collaborated with artists including Chick Corea, Marilyn Mazur, Lionel Loueke, Marc Ducret, Jon Balke, Toumani Diabate, Django Bates, John Hollenbeck, Theo Bleckmann Christian Wallumrød, Terje Isungset, Tim Hagans, Helge Sten and Ståle Storløkken. Pettersen has been nominated several times for the Danish Music Awards and for the Norwegian Grammys, and won a Norwegian Grammy in 2022 with Trondheim Jazz Orchestra and Gurls. She regularly collaborates within contemporary dance and theatre, both as a performer, composer and musician, and she is also a visual artist, exhibiting paintings and graphic prints.

"Capable of producing sustained lines of the utmost purity, wild ululations and the occasional melodic line that simply disappears off the treble clef, Pettersen's voice is an instrument of extraordinary flexibility. ...one of those powerful emotional jolts that really stirs the soul." -The Arts Desk (UK)